Pike, Wayne libraries to unite catalogue services in Sept.

Pike and Wayne county public libraries will combine their respective catalogs and circulation systems in late September. Library users will be able to use any library in the two counties with their current card.

Pike and Wayne county public libraries will combine their respective catalogs and circulation systems in late September. Library users will be able to use any library in the two counties with their current card.

Residents will be able to search a catalog that will have roughly 160,000 items. Currently, the Pike County catalog has about 64,000 titles and Wayne County has about 96,000. The library systems do not know yet how many of those are unique to one county or the other and how many are shared. Popular titles that are owned by both counties will mean that borrowers will have more copies available to them.

Not only can borrowers search a larger catalog, but also they will be able to place holds on items regardless of county and have those titles moved to the library of their choice. The Wayne and Pike library staffs are exploring many ways to move materials between the counties at little or no courier cost.

"We've been working on this since last fall and things are falling into place," said Ellen Schaffner, director of the Pike County Public Library. "We think this is great. It will make more things available to residents of both counties."

Schaffner said library cards from one county will be honored at a branch in the other county.

"Beyond the benefit to residents of greater access to more items, there is a cost-saving benefit to both county systems (for its portion of the catalog vendor). The two counties use the same library circulation system hosted by the Library Corporation. By combining circulation systems, both counties will see substantial savings on annual licensing fees. The savings can be redirected to library services such as collections, technology and programs to benefit the public," said Genevieve Reese, president of the Wayne Library Alliance.